this is bbc news. i'm carrie gracie. the headlines at 11. the family of shamima begum, the teenager whojoined the islamic state group, say they'll officially challenge the decision, to revoke her british citizenship. a 16—year—old boy is found guilty of the rape and murder of six—year—old alesha macphail in what the judge describes as ‘some of the most wicked and evil crimes‘ the court had ever heard. increased delays in disability benefit, leaves tens of thousands of people, not getting the money they're entitled to. people are lodging appeals and the system just can't cope with the amount that are coming through. music. # ow. # 0 what can it mean #. and monkees keyboardist and bassist

peter tork dies at the age of 77. and at 11:30pm, we'll be taking another look at the papers with writer and broadcaster, steve richards, and deputy political editor of spectator, katy balls. good evening. the family of shamima begum, the teenager who went to syria to join the islamic state group, say they will officially challenge the home secretary's decision, to revoke her british citizenship. in a letter they're sending to sajid javid, which has been seen by the bbc, they say they're "sickened by the comments she has made," in recent interviews, but "as her family they cannot abandon her and will go to court. ms begum, who's living in a refugee camp in northern syria, gave birth to a baby boy

a few days ago. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford, reports. shamima begum is still stranded in the al—hawl refugee camp in syria, the schoolgirl who went to join the islamic state group asking to come home. her sister, who has now written to the home secretary, talking about how the family had lost shamima to a murderous and misogynistic cold and saying they hope he understands why they are challenging his decision to take away the one thing the is her only hope at rehabilitation, her british citizenship. in brussels the labour leader jeremy corbyn described the decision to remove her nationality as an extreme manoeuvre. he said, as she was born in the uk she should be allowed to come back. the home secretary said yesterday it was his first duty to protect the public, but he'd consulted experienced lawyers who were experts in their field and no decision to take away someone‘s citizenship is taken lightly.

butjeffrey roberts and qc, one of bryn‘s most senior international lawyers and a former united nationsjudge, says despite sajid javid's protestations he has rendered shamima begum stateless and he should instead put her on trial in britain. she is born and bred in bethnal green. she is for us to decide what punishment she deserves by going off and joining this terrorist organisation as a child of 15. she's committed a crime that carries up to ten years in prison and it surely for a judge to decide whether she deserves mercy or sympathy, not for a politician. book more than 500,000 people have signed a petition to parliament calling for all is members to be barred from the uk, suggesting sajid javid has significant public support, and shamima begum is still living in a tent in a refugee camp in the desert, where she could be for many, many months.

a 16—year—old boy has been found guilty of the rape and murder of six—year—old alesha macphail, on the isle of bute lastjuly. he can't be identified because of his age, but the judge at the high court in glasgow, said he'd committed ‘some of the most wicked and evil crimes‘ the court had ever heard. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. hey guys, it's alesha, today i'm going to show you... alesha macphail, a little girl who loved dancing and dreamed of being an internet star, but who was brutally murdered by a 16—year—old boy, who took her from her home while her family was sleeping. they sat through harrowing evidence about what had happened to the six—year—old. her mother, seen here, issued a statement through police. words cannot express just how devastated i am to have lost my beautiful happy smiling wee girl. i am glad that the boy who did this has finally been brought to justice. last summer, shortly after school

ended, alesha travelled to the isle of bute. her parents had split up shortly after she was born. she was going there to spend part of the holidays with her father and grandparents. bute was described in court as a safe place. a place where many people would leave their doors unlocked. 0n the night alesha went missing, her grandmother had left the key in the door to their home. that would not be unusual, the court heard, in this small island community. before going to bed, alesha's dad tucked her in saying he'd see her the next morning. but that night, the teenager let himself into the family's flat. armed with a knife, he entered the little girl's room and carried her away. he raped and killed her. she suffered brutal and catastrophic injuries. throughout the trial, her 16—year—old murderers showed no remorse. he tried to blame someone else for his depraved acts. but cctv showed him leaving his house repeatedly and a knife from his kitchen was recovered

on a beach. fibres from his clothing linked him to the crimes. the teenager also sent a video of himself to friends with the message... in an earlier message, he claimed he might kill for the lifetime experience. and an internet search on his phone asked... his dna was found all over the little girl's body and clothing. 0n bute, people have been left struggling to understand. we have a community where everybody knows each other. and we've mourned it together, it's been in the air, people are supporting each other in all sorts of ways, just the simple human ways of being there for each other, but it's been a terrible trauma for everybody. alesha's family said she had been a beautiful, beautiful happy girl. her mother's wish for her daughter, to be remembered for who she was, not her tragic death. lorna gordon, bbc news. a bbc investigation has found that

it's taking around six months for a tribunal to hear an appeal case for the disability benefit — personal independence payments. with many claimants in england, scotland and wales losing out on hundreds of pounds every month. but when a decision is finally made, nearly three quarters of claimants, win their case. 0ur social affairs correspondent michael buchanan, has the full story. we need to get these made up for mother's day. samjennings runs a pop—up florist in south london. multiple sclerosis limits her ability to work full—time. since my mobility has declined a bit, nicole helps me out as my arms and legs. balance problems including numerous falls led the ao—year—old to apply for personal independence payments in march 2017. the application included an assessment by a health care assistant, who concluded that sam had no mobility issues. despite the fact i had given evidence from multiple disciplines within my ms teams, so physiotherapist, occupational therapist, neurologist,

all the different people involved in my treatment, somehow she was able to override that, despite not being an ms specialist. with little savings and her deteriorating health increasingly locking her indoors, last summer sam was forced to crowdfund to raise £3,000 to pay for a mobility scooter. a few times when i've had the chair i have burst into tearas of happiness when i have done something and thought, my god, i haven't done this for ages. like going to aldi is not the most rock and roll thing to do, but when i went there just to buy apples and didn't have to spend £40 and wait three days, it was emotional. sam's fight continues. a tribunal will hear her case next month, almost two years after she first applied for pip. the department for work and pensions say only a small number of claimants pursue their cases to court, and they are working to improve the system. but this welfare adviser, who has won dozens of cases at tribunal, says problems with the initial

health assessments are creating a backlog. the number of cases that are turned down, and people are lodging appeals, and the system just can't cope with the amount that are coming through, which is inevitably increasing the delays. no points on this form means no benefit. total, total lies. what she described there was not my daughter. sue campbell lost her daughter victoria lastjuly. the 33—year—old had agoraphobia and fibromyalgia, which left her body in constant pain. last march, she was assessed for pip and told she was not eligible. weeks later, she was admitted to hospital. it destroyed her, she gave up. she didn't fit into what you call normal society, but she was a human being. and she was my daughter. and she was my friend, and my world. the week after victoria

died, a tribunal decided she was eligible for pip. sue has since successfully sued capita, who carried out the assessment on her daughter, for maladministration, effectively making inaccurate statements. she has been awarded £10,000. i didn't do it for the money, i did it, i did it for them to try and admit they were wrong. to get some justice for my daughter. because she was ill, and she deserved the support to let her live? yes, i really do believe that if they haven't cut her pip off, my daughter would be still here. sue's memories of victoria are understandably clouded by what she considers to be an avoidable death. capita told us that procedural problems meant the court failed to consider their defence against the family's claim. michael buchanan, bbc news. two former government ministers are warning they'll quit the conservative party,

if the uk leaves the european union without a deal. yesterday, three tory backbenchers defected to the new independent group, joining eight mps who left labour earlier in the week. the independent group says it expects more defections, in the coming days. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young reports. there is a new team at westminster, and speculation that some more signings could be on the way. brexit is part of the reason mps have broken away from their own side to join an independent group in parliament. 0ne former conservative cabinet minister said she could not stay in her party if there is a no—deal brexit. we are becoming a single—issue party that's consumed by brexit. that's not a recipe for success. i think we need to wake up and smell the coffee now, because if we don't, then what we will be looking at is a postmortem on the conservative party. another colleague, also campaigning against brexit, has similar worries.

i want to try to make my party act in the national interest, that's the thing on which i'm focused. if i were to get to a point where i felt my party was no longer doing that, then i would have to resign the whip. these three mps quit the tory party yesterday, accusing the prime minister of a dismal failure to stand up to eurosceptics. theresa may wrote to them today, rejecting their criticisms, and insisting she led a modern, open—hearted party. we are in a very serious time, as we try to reach the end of getting the right outcome for the united kingdom on leaving the european union, so i hope we will all be able to support the prime minister and get the deal through next week. theresa may has another deadline looming. next week, some mps will try to seize control of the brexit process. they want to stop the uk leaving the eu without a deal. ministers have threatened to resign over the matter, so there is even more pressure on the government to bring back its deal to parliament as soon as possible. theresa may has been back

in brussels this week, desperate to get changes to the withdrawal agreement that will satisfy mps back home. the labour leader has been making his case to eu negotiators too. the danger of a no—deal exit from the european union for britain is a very serious and present one. we from the labour party have made it very clear that we do not countenance a no—deal exit, because of the danger tojobs. senior european figures share those concerns. my efforts are in reality in a way that the worst can be avoided, but i am not very optimistic when it comes to this issue. and was this a clue about the current mood in brussels? i have something like a brexit fatigue, you know? chuckling. in the coming days theresa may, will need the art of persuasion to convince the eu to budge... can the prime minister persuade you to stay? and her unhappy mps to stay. vicki young, bbc news, westminster.

meanwhile, the government has confirmed that trade deals with japan and turkey — that match the european union's own preferential agreements — will not be signed in time for brexit day, set to take place at the end of march. the international trade secretary, liam fox, has been seeking to replicate around a0 free trade deals before britain's scheduled departure next month — having predicted in 2017 that this would be achieveable. the mother of a young boy who was allegedly crushed to death behind a car seat has been found guilty of child cruelty, but cleared of his manslaughter. alfie lamb, who was three, died while sitting in the rear footwell of a car. his mother, adrian hoare, had been accused of manslaughter by gross negligence. it was alleged her boyfriend stephen waterson crushed alfie behind his seat, but the jury couldn t reach a verdict on the manslaughter charge. a huge fire has swept through an historic part of dhaka, in bangladesh killing at least 78 people.

the blaze started in a residential building which had chemicals stored on its ground floor, and quickly spread to other apartment buildings. 0ur correspondent akbar hussein has sent this report from the scene. a cramped apartment block and historic district of the city engulfed in flames. the fire spread rapidly. it spread also to three other buildings nearby, including a community centre. many were trapped, unable to escape. dances in a restau ra nt unable to escape. dances in a restaurant were also among the dead. it is not clear what caused the blaze. but chemicals are stored in a warehouse underneath the flats are thought to have contributed to the fires ferocity. it took nine hours for the fire to be brought on control. attempt to put out the blaze were hampered by poor water

supplies and constant explosions. access to these densely populated district also slow down rescue efforts. narrow streets and residential buildings, only inches apart. this is the main building where fire originated last night in the old part of the city. this building is li—story, and fire broke out first in the ground floor where there is a chemical warehouse. and thenit there is a chemical warehouse. and then it quickly spread out to the fourth floor. in upstairs, there are some family houses where people used to live. in the fire quickly spread through the other buildings. there isa through the other buildings. there is a restaurant. when the fire broke out, this is where people were having dinner. at least seven dead bites had them recovered from this restau ra nt. bites had them recovered from this restaurant. 0n the other side, there is another building where fire quickly spread. the tragedy has a cause of a similar fire quickly spread. the tragedy has a cause of a similarfire in the quickly spread. the tragedy has a cause of a similar fire in the city in 2010 when 120 people lost their

lives. grieving relatives are desperate for information. but they know the number of victims is expected to rise as the search of the damaged buildings continues. akbar hussein, abc news, dhaka. it is just after 11:15 p:m.. it isjust after 11:15 p:m.. —— bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... the family of shamima begum, the teenager whojoined the islamic state group, say they'll officially challenge the decision, to revoke her british citizenship. a 16—year—old boy is found guilty of the rape and murder of six—year—old alesha macphail last summer. a bbc investigation finds people having to wait six months for disability payments, because assessors, are too tough. for the first time in the history of the catholic church, bishops from around the world are meeting at the vatican, to confront the issue of the sexual abuse of children by clergy. pope francis convened the four day summit, saying the world expects "concrete measures" to be taken, to tackle the continuing scandal.

0ur religion editor martin bashir reports now from vatican city. a sombre rendition of morning prayer marked the opening of this gathering of bishops, where the agenda has not been set by scripture but by scandal. before any speeches, synod hall fell silent to acknowledge the suffering of those abused. pope francis outlined the purpose of this summit. translation: we must listen to the shout of the little ones that demand justice. may the virgin mary illuminate us to try to heal the serious wounds of the scandal of paedophilia. all eyes are on the vatican, as pope francis seeks to develop protocols and practices that could be applied across continents, and in a church that numbers more than 1.2 billion.

0ne survivor, who was abused by a priest in chile, says a papal summit won't change anything if bishops remain a law unto themselves in their own countries. the bishops are the ones that are messing this up for everybody, because they go to their dioceses, they go to their countries, and they tell a different story. they nod their heads in front of the pope and say, "yes, your holiness, we'll do this," but then they go back to their countries and they do quite the opposite, they keep covering up, they keep this culture of abuse and cover—up, so it's really, frankly, terrible. back in the hall, those same bishops heard from senior clerics, confessing, sometimes tearfully, to the failings of the church. the wounds of the risen christ carry the memory of innocent suffering. but they also carry the memory of our weakness and sinfulness.

after decades of scandal, cover—up and countless lives blighted by abusive priests, there is understandable scepticism surrounding the summit. but this is a defining moment for pope francis and the roman catholic church. six years since he was elected, and people are tired of waiting and are demanding that he act decisively to begin restoring the moral authority of the church. martin bashir, bbc news, at the vatican. west midlands police have launched a murder investigation after a teenager died in birmingham. officers were called to the small heath area of the city at around 8:00 last night. a 16—year—old boy had suffered stab wounds and died at the scene. a 15—year—old boy was treated for minor injuries. a police officer has been stabbed in the back while on patrol in a park in portsmouth.

he was attacked in stamshaw park shortly after midday and taken to hospital by airambulance. hampshire police said a 19—year—old man had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. nigerians are due to go to the polls on saturday in nationwide elections, which were postponed at the very last minute, six days ago. one of the key issues will be security, with nearly two million people displaced by violence in the north east of the country. thousands have fled recent attacks by extremist groups, including boko haram. 0ur africa editor fergal keane reports. the exhaustion of the new arrivals. they've just come — safe now, after the terror of being driven from their homes. but this camp, built for 8000 people, now has four times that number. hadisa ibrahim, mother of five. her husband is missing and may have fled to neighbouring chad. "we went through hardship

beyond imagination," she says. this mother of six gave birth to twins during her escape. can you tell us what has happened to your family? why are you here? translation: we ran from doro to escape boko haram. i spent two days in the bush, and while there i gave birth to twins. i had no clothes to cover the children or to cover myself. person after person has come up to us to complain that they don't have the basic necessities of life in this camp. tens of millions have been spent prosecuting this war, and still people are being driven from their homes, being terrorised. a new camp with proper facilities is being built to ease the overcrowding. it's situated on a half—built, abandoned stadium, itself a symbol of the waste that's characterised the rule of nigeria's political elites. this election season has brought fresh pressures for the idps,

as boko haram and the local wing of islamic state have stepped up attacks. these were mourners at a funeral ten kilometres maiduguri. the dead, 1a people, were gathering wood when they were attacked. it's a lack of basic human needs that's sent us out of our community. he had to go and hustle for us to eat, and despite the hustling, he didn't stop his education. he would work hard for us and also go to school before this really sad incident. the government says the war is being won, but the killers were still able to ambush the state governor's convoy last week, and in maiduguri itself i met the survivor of a recent bomb and gun attack on a mosque. he points to the hole from the bullet that killed his neighbour. translation: that is the surprising thing that leaves us wondering how they got here. did they come from the town or the bush? that's what we are wondering. wherever they came from,

they didn't attack there — they chose to attack us, here. but despite recent violence, we have been told displaced people have been moved on dangerous roads to vote in their home areas. these men, now back in the capital, told us they'd been taken 140 kilometres to their home town, a place already overcrowded with the displaced. the road between here and there, is ita dangerous road ? are there boko haram on that road? but the ruling party and main opposition say it was safe and people were moved back to their home area because it was simply to organise and monitor vote there.

logistically similar perhaps, but at a risk to already traumatised people. whoever wins this election, there is little expectation it will change these lives. fergal keane, bbc news, maiduguri. the american actorjussie smollett, has been arrested in chicago, after being charged with filing a false police report. the star of the tv series empire, had claimed he'd been the victim of a homophobic and racist attack by two men last month. but chicago's chief of police says the actor may have staged it all, because he was dissatisfied with his salary. aleem maqbool is in chicago for us.... it is a humiliating fall from grace. used to appearances on the red carpet, actorjussie smollett has now been snapped for his mugshot, arrested for concocting a fake hate crime against him.

# sometimes you feel insecure. he is best known to us audiences for playing jamal lyon, a sensitive, slightly troubled r&b singer in the tv series, empire. this is exactly where jussie smollett says he was attacked in the early hours of the morning when he had gone out to get food. he says two men punched him, subjected him to racist and homophobic abuse, even at one point shouting at him that this was make america great again country, suggesting they had been trump supporters. my manager was still on the phone, so i picked up the phone and i said, brandon, and he's like, what's going on? and i said, i wasjustjumped. and then i looked down and i saw there's a rope around my neck. the president himself was among the many who came out to condemn the attack. i think that's horrible. it doesn't get worse. but police now say two brothers, seen here buying ski masks ahead of the incident, were paid by smollett himself to stage the attack, because, they say, he was unhappy with his salary.

empire actorjussie smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. i'm left hanging my head and asking why. why would anyone, especially an african—american man, use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusations? hate crimes have seen a dramatic increase in the us of late, but the police and rights advocates alike have talked of their dismay at the harm jussie smollett has done to those who really have suffered. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in chicago. peter tork, a member of the 60s teen band, the monkees, has died at the age of 77. music. he played keyboards and the bass in the group, which achieved global fame,

with hits "i'm a believer" and "daydream believer". he was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. earlier i spoke to the broadcaster iain lee. he grew up as a monkees fan. like a lot of kids growing up in the 70s and 80s, the monkees was on every single school holiday. half term, easter break, they would have the monkees on at 9:25am. i think that is part of the reason that we are making, the death of the bass player from a tv pop group from 50 odd years ago is being talked about now. it is why the monkees have sustained a lot longer than some of the other groups from that era. the songs were incredibly because they were written by people like neil diamond and carol king and jerry goffin, but also the tv show was integral into keeping them popular. that's how i got into them.

peter was a serious musician. he wasn'tjust a made—for—tv, come—along—and—do—it on the day? no. he was a folky, he worked with the folk clubs. he was friends with stephen stills and mama cass and those kinds of people. he was the most talented musician in the group. he could play the piano, the base, the lead guitar, the french horn. the monkees were made as a tv group, as a kind of a spin—off of the beatles. it was never meant to be a real group. but him and nesmith pushed to record their own songs, they pushed to have their songs they had written included, and they ended up going on tours and, like pinocchio, becoming a real little boy — they became a real band. remembering peter tork. now it's time for the weather with darren bett.

hello there. for almost two weeks now we have had unusually warm days for this time of the year. on thursday we actually broke a record for the february temperature in scotland. just over 18 degrees in aberdeenshire. beating the previous record set way back in the 19th century. the main reason for it being so warm, notjust in scotland but elsewhere across the uk as well, is because our air is coming from a long way south. there is the canaries. let's put on the jet stream. it is diving down into the mid atlantic. pushing that warm air across the uk. if we move things on a little bit and follow the shape of thatjet stream, it is like an 0mega shape and that is why we call it an 0mega block. those blocks will take some shifting. when you have clear skies and it gets a bit chilly overnight, mist and fog forming.